Byron Dobson: Initiative seeks a way out of poverty

More than 13,000 people struggling to make ends meet walked through the doors of the Capital Area Community Action Agency last year, seeking a solution. It is here that the staff helps those entrenched in poverty find a way upward. CACAA helps pay delinquent electric bills, finds money to weatherize homes, gets children enrolled in Head Start.

It could provide more if there was more funding, because in the eight-county area it serves, including Tallahassee, an estimated 28 percent of residents live in poverty.

In addition to being a safety net, the agency also is engaged in reducing the poverty rolls. It is not an easy job. Last week, it was reported that the United States can no longer boast of having the most sustainable middle class, it’s even more difficult for those in poverty.

The Capital Area Community Action Agency has introduced the nationally recognized anti-poverty initiative “Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World.” It’s designed to work with the poor to get them to understand what is holding them back and that they can lift themselves and think outside the box. What is middle class? What is it like being wealthy? A key component to the program is that it is largely driven by the participants themselves rather than the top-down approach that has been tried for decades.

CACAA wants to refocus the efforts of agencies serving poorer people. Rather than doling out money in a crisis, agencies today are looking at how they can reach the root of the problem and improve the lives of those who are willing to get ahead.

If successful, this research-based program can help change public sentiment about social service agencies, which often are criticized for throwing money at people looking for a handout.

“We’re trying to implement research-based programs that will help get those (poverty) numbers down,” said Tim Center, the agency’s executive director. “Those numbers are not acceptable and tolerable, and our economy can no longer sustain them. If you are looking to relocate a business to Tallahassee and we tell you 28 percent live in poverty, that’s not where I would want to relocate. This is as much an issue of economic development as it is human development.”

Getting Ahead is a research-focused program developed by Ruby Payne and Phil DeVol, who in 1999 co-authored “Bridges Out of Poverty,” a project designed for those working in health care, criminal justice, and workforce and community programs. But Getting Ahead is based on the concept of hearing directly from those living in poverty.

Since last spring, 27 people have been introduced to the program, which requires a 15-week commitment in which they go through a candid and honest self-examination with others. Those who are successful are in line to get further assistance such as enrollment in classes that train them in special skills that can improve their chances of landing a job, and they are matched up with a mentor to help keep them on track.

The agency works with partners like Catholic Charities, Lively Technical Center, Tallahassee Community College, Keiser University and CareerSource.

Of the 27 participants, 14 got jobs during or shortly after finishing the program. Nine are ready to move into the next step of training to help meet their goals, and four dropped out.

Most of the participants are women, ranging from single women to single mothers to grandmothers who now have custody of their grandchildren. A current class of about seven women includes a woman with an MBA.

Center said a key part of the program is for participants to interact and share common denominators of living in poverty and how they see themselves evolving out of it.

Patrick Mitchell, program manager at the agency, said the group interaction is critical to keeping each person engaged. “They are learning from each other,” Mitchell said. “They learn about conditions that contribute to poverty in the community.”

In response to one exercise asking participants what it’s like to live in poverty, they wrote: transportation, lack of communication, bad choices, domestic violence, clothes, mental health, generational, drugs, police profiling, lack of education. It was interesting to note that nearly identical answers were given by participants in Calhoun, Gadsden, Jefferson and Wakulla counties.

“You are so caught up in the now that it is hard for you to plan,” Center said of the poverty class. “They are so focused on just getting by that they can’t get ahead. This (program) is often the first time for them getting to talk about this. This is the first time for them to think about what is out there.”

Some lessons present scenarios including the poor, the middle class and the wealthy. With something as basic as a planning a birthday party, poorer people will be concerned whether there will be enough food. The middle class will wonder if chicken or filet mignon will be served. The wealthy are more concerned with where it is being held and wonder “if it was presented nicely.”

Power and the perception of power is another factor. Those in poverty often feel disrespected and talked to like children when seeking assistance. On the other hand, those in the middle class will endure such behavior, especially in the workplace, because they are focused on getting a raise and promotion. Those who are wealthy surround themselves with people with similar success, where they network, travel, attend social gatherings and give back by writing a check.

During a visit to a Getting Ahead session last week, I walked into a room with a handful of women engaged in conversation. The woman seated next to me said, “It’s raw … I’m just explaining, we don’t hold back.” Initially, I was caught off guard, but I soon realized she was sharing the ground rules that not sugarcoating their lives is a critical first step in the road to improving their lives.

When discussing how life in poverty can often be chaotic and disorganized, while the middle or wealthy class are shielded from such distractions, one woman exclaimed, “How are you going to tell someone to be organized? Teach them how to put their bills in order or something?”

This week, the women will begin week five of the 15-week session. Nobody said it was going to be easy.

Visit associate editor Byron Dobson's column online at Tallahassee.com. You also can contact him at bdobson@tallahassee.com or 599-2258, follow him on Twitter at @byrondobson and send a friend request on Facebook.